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Story Highlights

When Friday arrives, most people’s big Thanksgiving meals will be safely tucked away in the fridge for leftovers, and many will have spent all day in stores standing in lines while hunting, pushing and shoving for Black Friday bargains.

it’s time to ease off the stress, relax and get your funk on in the Gump. Funksgiving, that is.

This third-annual event at the Montgomery Union Station Train Shed downtown, presented by Live & Listen, has three unique bands:

Dank (funk rock band from Atlanta, Georgia) at 6 p.m.,

The McLovins (jam band from Hartford, Connecticut) at 7:30 p.m.,

A double helping of headliner from The Werks (from Dayton and Columbus, Ohio), starting at 9:30 p.m.

“This is ultimately going to amount to about six hours of live music from three amazing nationally touring bands,” said Jordan Kirkland, founder of Live & Listen.

This will also be the first time Funksgiving will have a headline act performing two sets.

“You’re going to basically see four guys throwing down as hard as they can,” said Dan Shaw, who plays keyboards for The Werks. “We’re going to be playing as best as we can in the deep South, which is one of our favorite places to be.”

The Werks play a mix of electronica, funk, dance music, Americana and classic rock. “It’s basically all kind of mixed in together in a cool and colorful kind of way,” said Shaw. “We keep it accessible, but we definitely have a lot of playing. We’re like an actor, like Daniel Day Lewis. We have a lot of breadth in our playing. A lot of range. We’re not just a bid player with one sound, one type of song. We really like to stretch it out.”

Two sets give them plenty of time to do just that.

"The longer we go and the more time we have to play, the more creative we get in our live improvisation,” said Shaw. “So it should be a blast.”

As a nationally touring band, finding time to go home for the holidays can be a challenge. Fortunately, just ahead of Montgomery, the guys have their own Werksgiving concert Wednesday with the group Subterranean at Oddbody’s Music Room in Dayton, Ohio. Since they're all from Ohio, Shaw said they’ll probably get to stop at home before heading to Montgomery.

The Werks have toured across the South and are no strangers to Alabama. Back in July, they open for Umphrey's McGee in Birmingham, and they’ve played at Zydeco there as well. He said they’re looking forward to playing at the Train Shed in Montgomery.

“It’s a great time and it’s a great dance party, basically,” said Shaw. “It’s just a great party to be at in general."

Gates are going to open at 5 p.m., and from 5 to 7 p.m. they will have a kids area with face painting, a balloon artist and a bounce house. Kids 12 and under will get in free.

"There’s not going to be a need to go out for dinner before the show. We plan on having a really nice variety of local restaurants serving up food to try to bring people out early,” Kirkland said.

"Other vendors include The Southern Wanderer, an eclectic mobile boutique, To Your Health Sprouted Flour Co., Hoops For Fitness, Organic Hippie, and several other various arts and craft vendors. We're also really excited to have quite a few live painters at the show this year,” said Kirkland.

There’s more to Funksgiving than just fun, food and music. There’s also a good cause. This show is a benefit for Family Promise of Montgomery, an organization that assists churches in sharing their facilities with homeless families in their communities. “We really believe in what they’re doing,” said Kirkland.

Also benefiting from Funksgiving will be E.A.T. South, which promotes food education and sustainable farming. “That’s a really, really cool new organization here in Montgomery,” said Kirkland. “It’s kind of mind-blowing that someone has a farm in downtown Montgomery.”

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"We really feel like we are building towards what could be a full-weekend, family-friendly music and arts festival for downtown Montgomery, and we are really excited to see the expansion come together this year,” said Kirkland.

Thanks to the Train Shed, Funksgiving will be a rain or shine event. “It’s an open air venue, but luckily it’s got a big roof over the top,” said Kirkland.

Tickets are $25 for general admission, $75 for VIP, and are available for purchase online at www.liveandlisten.com.